Numbers 14:12, commentary and pictures

At Kadesh on the borders of the promised land God threatened to strike rebellious Israel with disease, cast them off as His people, and raise up a greater and mightier nation from Moses as its founder. The threat came because the congregation believed the discouraging report of the spies, murmured against God, sought to return to Egypt, rejected Caleb and Joshua, and even took stones to kill them until His glory appeared, provoking Him and refusing to believe Him despite deliverance from Pharaoh, provision of food and water, and leading by cloud and fire. Moses refused the offer of greatness for himself and pleaded with agonizing intercession upon God's long-suffering, great mercy and forgiveness, His presence among the people by cloud and fire, and His honor before Egypt and Canaan lest they say He could not bring them into the land He had sworn to them, and God graciously pardoned them from immediate destruction at his word. Pardon did not remove all consequence, for their unbelief kept God from working through them and showing His power, so He turned them back toward the Red Sea to wander, decreed that the adults who had seen His glory and tempted Him should fall in the wilderness save Caleb and Joshua while their little ones would enter in, and their later presumptuous attempt to go up ended in defeat when the favorable time had passed.

Setting and Divine Threat

The declaration belongs to God's response at Kadesh after the spies surveyed Canaan and brought back a discouraging evil report. When the congregation heard it they wept and murmured, reproached God, and sought a captain to lead them back to Egypt. Caleb and Joshua faithfully reported that the Lord was with Israel to possess the land, but the people rejected their counsel and took up stones to kill them for defending the truth. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle before all Israel, watching their plottings and delivering His servants from their hands.

The threat came because the people provoked God and refused to believe Him despite all the signs He had shown among them. He had delivered them from Pharaoh, provided food and water, and led them by cloud by day and fire by night, with His presence among them face to face. Yet they believed false reports, turned against Him and His faithful servants, and trusted discouragement over the evidence of His care. In this they crossed the boundary of His patience despite light, opportunities, protection, and provision.

God declared He would smite them with pestilence or disease and disinherit them, striking them down and removing them as His people. He would make of Moses a greater nation and mightier than they, raising it up from Moses' descendants with Moses as founder. The threat came at the height of rebellion on the borders of the promised land when they refused to advance in obedience to His command, after He had often spared erring Israel. It shows the seriousness of their rebellion and the consequence it could bring.

Moses Intercession and Result

Moses refused the offer to see Israel destroyed and to become himself the founder of a greater and mightier nation from his own descendants, and met the threat with agonizing plea for the life of the people. That plea rested on his knowledge of Jehovah's long-suffering and infinite love and mercy, pleading God's marvelous providences and promises in behalf of the chosen nation. He pleaded God's presence among His people face to face, with the cloud over them by day and fire by night, and as the strongest of all pleas he urged God's love for fallen man. He argued that Egypt and the inhabitants of the land, who had heard that the Lord was among His people, would hear of their destruction and say He was not able to bring them into the land He swore to them and therefore slew them in the wilderness. He appealed that the Lord would let His power be great, as He had spoken that He is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, by no means clearing the guilty, and visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

God graciously pardoned the people according to Moses' word and spared them from immediate destruction by pestilence and disinheritance. Pardon did not remove all consequence, for He could not work through the transgressors as He had done, since to do great things for those in spirit no better than the heathen around them would dishonor His name. Their unbelief and cowardice prevented Him from showing His power to defeat their enemies, so He directed them to turn back toward the Red Sea. He sentenced them to wander in the wilderness and decreed that the rebellious adults who had seen His glory and miracles and tempted Him ten times should not see the land, but that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, save Caleb and Joshua, while their little ones would be brought in.

When they afterward tried to enter Canaan in presumption, the favorable time had passed, their enemies were prepared, and the advance ended in defeat. The outcome shows what glory might have been revealed through an obedient people. The history stands as an example of cowardly complaining, retreat from action when risks arise, and refusal to heed faithful counsel recurring among God's people.